BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite, and cable. BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002, with a schedule running from 19.00 to 4.00. The channel shows "a wide variety of programmes including drama, documentaries, music, international film, original programmes, comedy and current affairs ... an alternative to programmes on the mainstream TV channels." It is required by its licence to broadcast at least 100 hours of new arts and music programmes, 110 hours of new factual programmes and premiere 20 international films each year. Historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=1 edit BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002 at 19.00 GMT, having been delayed from the original planned 2001 launch. The channel replaced BBC Knowledge, an educational and cultural channel which had undergone many changes throughout its lifetime; in its final format it carried a schedule of documentaries and art programming, essentially a test of the new BBC Four schedule. BBC Four would rebrand this channel, and bring it into line with the well recognised BBC One and Two brands at the same time. Planning for the new channel, along with the new BBC Three, had been in progress since October 2000; however, the incumbent government delayed approving the new BBC digital plans. The BBC Four plans were approved earlier, and as a result launched before BBC Three. BBC Four was different from the old BBC Knowledge: the channel would be more heavily promoted with more new and original programming and the channel would not be broadcast 24 hours a day. This was due to the fact that on the Freeview digital terrestrial platform, BBC Four is broadcast in a statistically multiplexed stream in Multiplex B that timeshares with the CBeebieschannel (which is on air from 6.00 until 19.00). As a result, BBC Four broadcasts from 19.00 to around 4.00 each night, with an hour's down-time and promotions for CBeebies before the start of that channel's schedule. On 12 May 2011, BBC Four was added to the Sky EPG in Ireland on channel 230. Programmeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=4 edit Original programminghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=5 edit *''Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures'' *''Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters'' *''BBC Four Sessions'' *''Singer-Songwriters at the BBC'' *''If Walls Could Talk'' *''Britain's Best Drives'' *''Only Connect'' *''Birds Britania'' *''Britain by Bike'' *''Churches: How To Read Them'' *''Shock and Awe: The Life of Electricity'' *''Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency'' *''The Story of the National Grid'' *''Walter's War'' *''To Kill a Mockingbird at 50'' *''HG Wells: War with the World'' *''Twenty Twelve'' *''World News Today With Zeinab Badawi'' (simulcast on BBC Four and BBC World News at 1900 Mon-Fri) *''The Secret Life of Ice'' *''Hattie'' *''The Curse of Steptoe'' *''How to Build a Dinosaur'' *''Frankenstein: Birth of a Monster'' *''The Great War'' *''Sandhurst'' *''Jerusalam: The Making of a Holy City'' *''The Story of Musicals'' *''The Art of Cornwall'' *''Children's TV Trials'' *''Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe'' *''Goodbye BBC Television Centre'' *''Can Eating Insects Save the World'' *''The Ballad of Mott the Hoople'' *''Sings the...'' *''Racing at the BBC'' Importshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=6 edit *''Wallander'' *''Spiral'' *''Mad Men'' (seasons1-4 only premiered on BBC Four, moved to Sky Atlantic from season 5) *''The Slap'' *''Borgen'' *''The Killing'' *''Il Divo'' *''Inspector Montalbano'' *''The Bridge'' *''Minuscule'' *''Parks and Recreation'' *''Arne Dahl'' Domestic repeatshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=7 edit *''Life'' *''Planet Earth'' *''The Blue Planet'' *''Yes Minister'' *''Yes Prime Minister'' *''All Creatures Great and Small'' *''Juliet Bravo'' *''Last Of The Summer Wine'' *''Sykes'' *''Butterflies'' *''Top of the Pops'' *''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' *''The Likely Lads'' *''The Young Ones'' *''Batman'' *''Fawlty Towers'' *''The Bear Family and Me'' *''The Life of Mammals'' *''The Onedin Line'' *''Tales of Beatrix Potter'' *''Walking with Dinosaurs'' *''Walking with Beasts'' *''Casualty 1906'' *''Casualty 1907'' *''Cranford'' *''Outnumbered'' *''Great British Railway Journeys'' *''Climbing Great Buildings'' *''The Sky at Night'' *''Pride and Prejudice'' *''Blue Peter'' (Classics only) *''The Good Life (1975 TV series)'' *''Porridge (TV series)'' *''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' *''I, Claudius (TV series)'' Filmshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=8 edit *''South Pacific'' *''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' *''To Kill a Mockingbird'' *''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' *''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' *''The Lady Vanishes'' *''Carry on Loving'' *''King Kong'' *''Cloud 9'' *''The Brides of Dracula'' *''Amadeus (film)'' *''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (film)'' Music Concertshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=9 edit *''Queen 1975 Live'' *''Madness Live'' (Part of Goodbye Television Centre) *''Coldplay Live'' Children Classics (shown in 2007)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Four&action=edit&section=10 edit *''The Avengers (TV series)'' *''The Clangers'' *''The Magic Roundabout''